core
/kɔɹ/noun, adjective, verb
core is spelled C-O-R-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 54 times per million words in written English, the 1,899th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “core vs corps” about 90 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, core means “The central part of a fruit, containing the kernels or seeds” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of core is cores.
How many letters and syllables are in core?
| Letters | 4: C-O-R-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 54 times per million words; the 1,899th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is core?
Core appears 54 times per million words in written English, the 1,899th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce core?
- UK /kɔː/
- US /kɔɹ/
- US [kʰo̞ɹ]
Core has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-core.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with core
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: caw (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: cor.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with core?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as core from its last stressed vowel (/ɔɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: creo, cero.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of core
- cores plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- coring participle, present
- cored participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does core mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The central part of a fruit, containing the kernels or seeds.
the core of an apple or quince
- 2
The heart or inner part of a physical thing.
- 3
The anatomical core, muscles which bridge abdomen and thorax.
- 4
The center or inner part of a space or area.
- 5
The most important part of a thing or aggregate of things wherever located and whether of any determinate location at all; the essence.
the core of a subject
- 6
The main and most diverse monophyletic group within a clade or taxonomic group.
- 7
The set of feasible allocations that cannot be improved upon by a subset (a coalition) of the economy's agents.
- 8
A thematic aesthetic; objects related to a specific topic
Photographs of cottagecore focuses on countrysides or forests.
- 9
A miner's underground working time or shift.
- 10
A deposit paid by the purchaser of a rebuilt part, to be refunded on return of a used, rebuildable part, or the returned rebuildable part itself.
- 11
An aesthetic ending in the suffix -core, such as cottagecore, normcore, etc.
- 12
obsoleteA body of individuals; an assemblage.
- 13
Alternative form of cor: a former Hebrew and Phoenician unit of volume.
adjective
- 1
Forming the most important or essential part.
- 2
Deeply and authentically involved in the culture surrounding the sport.
verb
- 1
To remove the core of an apple or other fruit.
- 2
To cut or drill through the core of (something).
- 3
To extract a sample with a drill.
noun
- 1
Acronym of corporate responsibility.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Core in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | trognon, noyau, cœur , centre |
| German | Kerngehäuse , Kern , Kernspeicher |
| Portuguese | caroço , núcleo , cerne, miolo , âmago |
| Spanish | corazón, tuétano, carozo, corozo, tútano (desus.), güito |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does core come from?
From Middle English core, kore, coor (“apple-core, pith”), of obscure and uncertain origin. Possibly of native English origin, from Old English *cor, related to Old English *coruc, *corc (diminutive) (> Middle English cork, crok (“core of an apple or other fruit, heart of an onion”)) and Old English corn (“seed", also "grain”); or alternatively perhaps from Old French cuer (“heart”), from Latin cor (“heart”); or from Old French cors (“body”), from Latin corpus (“body”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).